Communication protocols are rules or standards that set forth or define data formats for communication between two or more devices. A drawback of existing communication protocols in the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) field is that limitations are often imposed on the number and/or type of messages that communicating devices can send and receive. For example, third party protocol supplier in the communication or control fields develop and license communication protocols for use by HVAC system manufacturers and manufacturers in other fields that enable these manufacturers to configure, encode, and use manufacturer-specific messages that facilitate communication between devices within conventional software frameworks.